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During the annual student awards reception on May 10, Trinity Russell’17 received the Walkley Prize for excellence in psychology; Mae Moskin ’19 was honored with the Scott Prize for Arabic language; and Cheryl Hagan ’17 received the Spurrier Award for ethics.

Students who received academic prizes, fellowships and scholarships were honored at a reception May 10 in Daniel Family Commons.

Mira Klein ’17 received the White Fellowship and the Robert Schumann Distinguished Student Award. Joli Holmes ’17 received the Plukas Prize for economics and the Plukas Teaching Apprentice Award.

Among the awardees were Mira Klein ’17, who received the White Fellowship for government and the Robert Schumann Distinguished Student Award for demonstrating academic accomplishment and excellence in environmental stewardship; Page Nelson ’17, who received the Alumni Prize in the History of Art; Eric Meyreles ’18, who received a Miller Summer Internship Grant to pursue an internship related to a potential business career; Ainsley Eakins ’18, who received the university’s Social Activist Award; Sofi Goode ’17, who is the recipient of the Wilde Prize for excellence in economics; and AJ Wilson ’19, who was honored with the Richard McLellan Prize for commitment to public service and diversity.

Professor Hari Krishnan recently received a prestigious award and residency at the University of Roehampton.(photo c/o Stephen De Las Heras)

Hari Krishnan, assistant professor of dance, recently received the Choreomundus Scholars in Residence Award, which will support a three-week residence at the University of Roehampton in London, beginning May 18. During his residency, Krishnan will teach and mentor Choreomundus students who are working on their final project.

(photo c/o Michael Slobodian)

Krishnan expressed excitement over his award: “I am delighted and honored to be one of two recipients of the prestigious Erasmus Mundus grant for visiting scholars to the “Choreomundus International Masters in Dance Knowledge, Practice and Heritage” at the University of Roehampton’s Department of Dance in London.”

Seth Redfield, assistant professor of astronomy, campus director of the NASA CT Space Grant Consortium, reports that several students and faculty have recently been awarded grants for their research in astronomy. (Photo c/o Redfield)

Several Wesleyan students and faculty were recently awarded grants for research by NASA’s Connecticut Space Grant Program. Seth Redfield, associate professor of astronomy and campus director of NASA’s CT Space Grant Consortium, was excited about the number of winners.

“I was thrilled to see how successful Wesleyan was this year in getting grants through NASA’s CT Space Grant program,” wrote Redfield. “It demonstrates the diversity and quality of work we do that is aligned with NASA’s mission.”

“The grants this year support undergraduate, graduate, and faculty research, as well as special events organized by faculty at Wesleyan to promote exposure and career development in STEM fields,” explained Redfield.

Charles Newell ’81 was recently awarded the prestigious Zelda Fichandler Award, which recognizes an outstanding director who is transforming the regional arts landscape through singular creativity and artistry in theater. He received the prize, an unrestricted grant of $5,000, from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF).

Over the years, Newell has become one of the nation’s foremost theater directors. He is currently in his 19th year as artistic director of the Court Theatre, the renowned professional theater in residence at University of Chicago, where he had directed more than 40 productions.

Newell comments: “To receive The Zelda Fichandler Award from SDCF means the world to me. My very first theatre-going memories are of my mother taking me to Zelda’s Arena Stage. The daring theatre she created and produced, the singular artists she championed, the impact her art made on her community: these all have been a beacon of inspiration to me. For twenty years, I have been fortunate to build a life in the theatre here in Chicago, seeking to follow Zelda’s example. I am very proud to be a member of this most vibrant theatre community, and am constantly inspired by our artists and patrons.”

Newell has been critically acclaimed for his intimate stagings of great American musicals, and his visionary work as a director has led to a notable professional relationship with playwright Tony Kushner (with whom Newell is currently working on an undisclosed commission for a new play). Under his artistic leadership, the Court Theatre has become the national “Center for Classic Theater,” and as such has produced several world premiere adaptations of classic novels, including The Invisible Man and the upcoming, highly-anticipated stage adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son in collaboration with American Blues Theater.

In May through June for the Court, Newell will be directing David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly. He made his Chicago directorial debut in 1993 with The Triumph of Love, which won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Production. His productions of Man of La Mancha and Caroline, Or Change have also won Best Production Jeffs. His other directorial highlights at the Court include Angels In America, An Iliad, Porgy and Bess, Three Tall Woman, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Wild Duck, Arcadia, Uncle Vanya, Raisin, The Glass Menagerie, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Invention of Love, and Hamlet. He has also directed at Goodman Theatre (Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘N Roll), Guthrie Theater (resident director: The History Cycle, Cymbeline), Arena Stage, John Houseman’s The Acting Company (staff repertory director), the California and Alabama Shakespeare Festivals, Juilliard, and New York University.

Newell is married to actress Kate Collins (All My Children) and they live in Chicago with their two sons. While at Wesleyan, he was roommates with classmate Bradley Whitford ’81 (The West Wing; Trophy Wife) and the two are still good friends. He was also classmates with Pamela Tatge ‘84, director of of Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts.

Alice Hadler, associate dean for international student affairs and coordinator of Writing Program Language Services for Non-Native Speakers, congratulates Abhisit Jiranaphawiboon ’16 for being the recipeint of two academic prizes, awarded on May 8. Jiranaphawiboon received the Ayers Prize for attaining the highest academic standing in the first semester, and the Sherman Prize for excellence in mathematics. (Photos by Eki Ramadhan ’16)

The Office of Academic Affairs and Office of Student Affairs hosted a reception honoring students who have been awarded academic prizes, fellowships and scholarships on May 8 in Daniel Family Commons. The awards and award recipients are:

GEORGE H. ACHESON AND GRASS FOUNDATION PRIZE IN NEUROSCIENCE

Established in 1992 by a gift from the Grass Foundation, this prize is awarded to an outstanding undergraduate in the Neuroscience and Behavior Program who demonstrates excellence in the program and who also shows promise for future contributions in the field of neuroscience.

Nicholas Woods ’13

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY ANALYTICAL AWARD

Awarded for excellence in analytical chemistry.

Andras Sagi ’14

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY CONNECTICUT VALLEY SECTION AWARD

Awarded for outstanding achievement to a graduating chemistry major.

Sarah Hensiek ’13

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY UNDERGRADUATE AWARD IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY.

Awarded to a senior who has displayed a significant aptitude for organic chemistry

Ging-ji Wang ’13

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTS AWARD

Awarded for outstanding achievement to a graduating chemistry major.

Sarah Shackleton ’13

AYRES PRIZE

The gift of Daniel Ayres, Class of 1842, to the first-year student who attains the highest academic standing in the first semester.

The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University recently announced that Visiting Writer in English Adina Hoffman ’89 is one of the inaugural winners of the Windham Campbell Prizes. This new global writer’s award was created with a gift from the late Donald Windham and his partner, Sandy M. Campbell, and is now one of the largest literary prizes in the world.

Nine $150,000 prizes were awarded for outstanding achievement in fiction, nonfiction, and drama and recognize writers from all stages of their careers. The recipients range in ages from 33 to 87. Writers were considered from around the world. The prize jury in each category chose five finalists, from which the nine recipients were selected to receive awards.

Book by Adina Hoffman ’89 & Peter Cole

Hoffman’s prize citation reads: “In a land where even the most cautious nonfiction can draw howls of protest, Adina Hoffman combines fastidious listening, even-handed research, and prose so engaged that it makes the long-vanished visible again.”

Hoffman is the author of House of Windows: Portraits from a Jerusalem Neighborhood and My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness: A Poet’s Life in the Palestinian Century. She is also the author, with Peter Cole, of Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza, which was awarded the American Library Association’s Brody Medal for the best Jewish book of 2011. Hoffman has been a visiting professor at Middlebury, and NYU, as well as a Franke Fellow at Yale’s Whitney Humanities Center. The recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, she divides her time between Jerusalem and New Haven. She is currently at work on Where the Great City Stands: A Jerusalem Triptych, forthcoming from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Wesleyan President Michael Roth congratulates all recipients of academic prizes, fellowships and scholarships during a reception May 5.

Students who received academic prizes, fellowships and scholarships, were honored at a reception May 5 in Daniel Family Commons. The awards and the recipients are:

George H. Acheson and Grass Foundation Prize in Neuroscience
Established in 1992 by a gift from the Grass Foundation, this prize is awarded to an outstanding undergraduate in the Neuroscience and Behavior Program who demonstrates excellence in the program and who also shows promise for future contributions in the field of neuroscience.

Eric LaMotte 2009
Kai Xuan Keith Tan 2009

Alumni Prize in the History of Art
Established by Wesleyan alumni and awarded to a senior who has demonstrated special aptitude in the history of art and who has made a substantive contribution to the major.

A university center cashier and an electrician are the co-recipients of a new social justice employee award.

Wendy Norton, a cashier for Bon Appétit, received a Peter Morgenstern-Clarren '03 Prize.

Wendy Norton, a cashier for Bon Appétit, and Ron Bowman, a journeyman electrician for Physical Plant – Facilities, are the 2009 Morgenstern-Clarren Social Justice Employee Prize winners. The award was created in memory of Peter Morgenstern-Clarren ’03 who pursued social justice while a student at Wesleyan.

The awards were announced April 1 by interim awards coordinator Marina Melendez, associate dean/class dean of 2010. Eligible employees included custodians, dining staff, grounds crew, and building maintenance staff.

Norton is celebrating her 10th year working at Wesleyan, nine of which she has been a cashier. She’s worked in WesShop and Summerfields, and currently tends the second-floor Marketplace inside Usdan University Center.

“I love being a cashier because I get to spend all day meeting with wonderful students,” she says. “I love getting to know them and their smiles and kind remarks keep me going all day.”

According to one nomination letter, Norton “is a mother to these students when they are so far away from home. She knows them by name, she hugs them if they need a hug. She asks how their day is going, or how their classes are. She makes every student that enters the Usdan dining area feel important.”

Another letter cited Norton’s love for the university. “Aside from the cafeteria crowd, Wendy has spent countless hours working special events all while representing Wesleyan’s high level of taste. Wendy is a valuable employee who speaks highly about Wesleyan University.”

Electrician Ronnie Bowman also received the employee prize.

Bowman began his career at Wesleyan in January 2000 after working as an electrician for 25 years.

“I always try to build a rapport with the students by talking with them about where they are from, their family, and their experience as students at the university,” Bowman says. “I enjoy the opportunity to learn about the diversities that make the students at Wesleyan so interesting.”

A staff member applauded Bowman’s flexibility above and beyond his job description.

“I have seen him on many occasions switch gears to support the needs of others,” the nomination letter says. “I have known him to become teary-eyed when telling me a story about a student who was hurting or in trouble – especially since in his role, the level of help he could offer was limited. He wants our world to be a better place and works hard each day to make a difference wherever he finds himself.”

Bowman, who also serves as the pastor of Seedtime and Harvest Ministries in Bloomfield, Conn., always leaves a card behind in every student room he services. They read “I am blessed to have served you today. Have a blessed day.”

“I really enjoy serving others. I am very grateful to be recognized for the Morgenstern-Claren Award and hope that my presence on the Wesleyan campus will continue to be a positive impact on others,” he says.

Morgenstern-Clarren’s activism included securing benefits for Wesleyan custodial staff, participating in the United Student and Labor Action Committee, and contributing his leadership to the campus chapter of Amnesty International. Peter’s parents, Dr. Hadley Morgenstern-Clarren and the honorable Pat Morgenstern-Clarren of Shaker Heights, Ohio, are sponsoring this award that honors their son’s activism for the public good.

Nominations for the award required an essay from a faculty, staff or student that explains how the selected employee is one who has contributed to student success and life at Wesleyan.

The recipients will receive a $1,500 award.

“Because this is the first year, the committee decided to split the financial gift between the recipients,” Melendez, associate dean/class dean of 2010. “The committee felt that both Ron and Wendy are very worthy of this honor.”

Follow Wesleyan on Twitter

Sunday, 3pm: @wesleyan_u Private Lessons Teacher and harpist Megan Sesma returns to The Russell House with saxophonist Joshua Thomas. Featuring the world premiere of the second movement of Daniel Morel’s “Old Farmer’s Almanac: 1855” for solo harp. FREE! fal.cn/4EO6Retweeted by
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On Feb. 15, the campus community gathered in Crowell Concert Hall to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. HON ’64. Dr. Joi Lewis delivered the keynote address, “From Hollering to Healing: Black to the Future.” fal.cn/4Eam

“I’m first-generation and low-income, but I’m also a scientist, I’m a musician, I’m Muslim,” says @melisaolgun '20 on her multifaceted identity as a first-gen student. More on how Wesleyan supports first-gen: bit.ly/2EGR5QA#ActivateTalent

Women's Basketball senior captain Maddie Bledsoe ’18 says rebounding is about positioning, luck, and “wanting the ball more than the other team.” She leads the @NESCAC in rebounds per game with 10.8 this season! Read our Q&A with Maddie here: fal.cn/42eN

This Friday, watch Masayo Ishigure stretch the limits of the koto in her performance of "Koto 360." 8pm, Crowell Concert Hall, Friday 2/16! Discounted student tickets are available at the Box Office. @WesCFAfal.cn/42N6